A Sky Data poll asking: "Should there be a General Election this year?", found that more than two thirds of Britons are in agreement with Downing Street's decision to go to the country.

Video:Corbyn welcomes election

When asked, 68% said "yes", 26% said "no" and 6% were undecided.

Making the dramatic announcement, following the weekly Cabinet meeting, Mrs May said she had come to the decision "reluctantly", but accused other political parties of "gameplaying" in seeking to block Brexit.

Speaking in Downing Street she said: "At this moment of enormous national significance, there should be unity in Westminster, but instead there is division.

"In recent weeks Labour have threatened to vote against the final agreement we reached with the European Union.

"The Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business of government to a standstill.

"The Scottish National Party say they will vote against the legislation that formerly repeals Britain's membership of the European Union and unelected members of the House of Lords have vowed to fight us every step of the way."

In a stark message to political opponents, Mrs May said: "You have criticised the Government's vision for Brexit, you have challenged our objectives, you have threatened to block the legislation we put before Parliament.

"This is your moment to show you mean it, to show you are not opposing the Government for the sake of it, to show that you do not treat politics as a game.

"So tomorrow vote for an election, let us put forward our plans for Brexit and our alternative programmes for government and then let the people decide."

She said: "It will be a choice between strong and stable leadership in the national interest, with me as your Prime Minister, or weak and unstable coalition government led by Jeremy Corbyn, propped up by the Liberal Democrats, who want to reopen the divisions of the referendum, and Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP."

Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,003 Sky customers by SMS on 18 April 2017. Data are weighted to the profile of the population. The full Sky Data tables are here.